Disclaimer: I have no creative rights over the characters and places you can identify in this story and have no way profited from this work.
28/06/2013
Over the next two chapters I'll be describing the respective journeys of the Fellowship largely in separate fashion. I've found that concurrent events can chop up the story flow too much in written form. It's my personal preference to finish the preliminaries so the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Pelennor Fields get the full attention they deserve.
chris: Good to hear from you again and thanks for your thoughts.
Dan man & Brad W: I don't rule out that Rogers and Elrond's paths will cross at a later date or that Captain America will react to the Lord of Imladris in the manner you both describe.
Forgotten Honour: A very observant point you raise in reference to the Black Serpent mentioned in the book.
Chapter 34 – Last Minute Changes
Preparations continued within Minas Tirith for the enormous assault by Mordor. That assault was expected the morning the second day after tomorrow. Civilians had commenced evacuating the lower levels, armouries worked around the clock preparing weapons and soldiers were going through last minute drills and equipment checks in readiness for the fight ahead.
The consensus of Minas Tirith's commanders was that the Great Gate was likely to be the focus of Mordor's assault. On that basis, the four valuable cases of napalm were kept in an iron strongbox located within a tower part of the rampart directly atop the Great Gate. The napalm could only be used on the direct order of Boromir, Gandalf or Rogers.
As Boromir had hoped, there was a strong response to the summons for volunteers to aid in the defence. The defenders had swelled in number by an additional five thousand men. These men were from all classes of society and across all age groups. Remembering what Rogers had said prior to the Battle of Helm's Deep, Boromir thought patriotism must be a strong motivating force across worlds.
The bigger challenge facing Minas Tirith's commanders though was in effectively using these volunteers. Only one fifth of them, mostly retired veterans, had any military or fighting experience. Boromir didn't want the lives of the remaining volunteers wasted as sword fodder. There wasn't even time to provide them with even the most basic training. Fulfilling his observation to the Council of Gondor, these volunteers were then mostly allocated to logistic and support roles. This included assisting with civilian evacuations; helping with the preparation and distribution of pitch and burning oil; and others to act as stretcher-bearers once the fighting started. Some volunteers would assist trebuchet crews with the loading of their weapon's projectiles (including bits of heavy masonry weighing up to 1000lbs each). In organising these volunteers, Boromir liked an American General's (named 'Bradley') maxim that Rogers once told him – "Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics."
Demonstrating that patriotism crossed the gender divide, many Gondorian women had volunteered by cooking and preparing meals for the troops, repairing their uniforms and offering to help within the Houses of Healing. Gondor mightn't have a tradition of shield-maidens like Rohan, but Rogers thought the contribution of these women was no less valuable. Rogers had both male and female volunteers collecting and bundling materials he hoped would provide some protection against aerial attack by the fell-beasts.
There was one other task Rogers had to occupy himself with. That task waited in the Drill Square of the Tower Guard's barracks. Similar to his training of Eowyn, Rogers had taken upon himself the responsibility of improving Pippin's combat skills for a couple of hours each day.
Pippin was currently standing close to the edge of the Drill Square fidgeting with the fine short sword he'd been issued with. Pippin wore a suit of the Tower Guard that Faramir had been given as a boy by his father. At the time, Denethor hoped the uniform would stimulate his youngest son's interest in matters military. He was only partially successful in this regard. The young Faramir wore the uniform pretending to be Earendil, defending the ancient Elven city of Gondolin from dragons like he read in a book that Gandalf gave him. The uniform itself was a mail hauberk surmounted by a coat of black cloth that bore the White Tree of Gondor with seven white stars as a motif. The Hobbit had on his head the standard issue barbut helmet given to Gondorian regulars which, for him, was an oversized fit. Pippin also continued to wear his Galadhrim cloak.
"Ready, Pippin?" Rogers politely checked before commencing their training session.
"I don't know what I was thinking when I volunteered, Steve" Pippin awkwardly recalled.
"The whole point, Pippin, was that you weren't thinking." Rogers said before explaining, "Gandalf told me that the Fellowship's Hobbits are good representatives of their race. After observing the four of you, my conclusion is that hobbits volunteer to help because it's second nature." After noting that Pippin gave a tiny appreciative smile in response, Rogers further encouraged him by adding, "And you've been in some battles before. So you've a lot more combat experience than many of the new recruits."
"But when the four of us have been in battle, others have been there to help us out," Pippin argued. "Its different when we've had to fight by ourselves. At Weathertop, the Black Riders swept us aside. I'm certainly not like my ancestor Bullroarer Took."
Rogers remembered Frodo mentioning this 'Bullroarer' when he spoke about the Shire's history. Something about Bullroarer using a club to knock a goblin head down a rabbit hole. Rogers pondered the feats of another warrior before his response.
"You remember me telling you about some of the other Avengers?" he put to Pippin. "In particular Natasha?"
"You mean Black Widow?" Pippin asked in clarification.
The Took couldn't understand why any lass would want to title themselves after such a horrible creature. Rogers's descriptions of Romanoff deliberately avoided mentioning that she was one of Earth's master assassins. Captain America rightly felt Pippin would be horrified at how the Red Room molded trainees.
Rogers nodded before continuing, "People often call her the 'weakest' Avenger. But trust me, enemies underestimate Nat at their peril."
"Are you saying I should try and fight like her?" Pippin guessed.
"What I'm saying is that you're fighting style should play to your strengths," Rogers answered. "Your size for starters."
Pippin wondered how his size could possibly be an advantage in a fight. As he began training with Captain America, the answer slowly began to reveal itself.
It was late evening and the Riders of Rohan had set up a makeshift camp for a few hours rest. Theoden wisely knew that both riders and their mounts still needed strength to fight the battle that lay ahead of them. All things going well, they would reach Minas Tirith sometime the day after tomorrow. Theoden was conferring with his key commanders on the ride that lay ahead.
Rohan's high command was comprised of three Marshals of the Riddermark. With Eomer now his heir, Theoden had promoted him to the position of First Marshal that was held by Theodred. The Second Marshal was Elfhelm who was from Eastern Rohan. Eomer's promotion meant the position of Third Marshal had a vacancy. Theoden filled it with a trusted friend from the Westfold named 'Grimbold' who was the Reed of the town called 'Grimslade'. Joining the King and his marshals were Gamling and Thor. Theoden privately regretted not including Thor in planning the defence of Helm's Deep. The Asgardian's knowledge of warfare was superb as what Captain America had demonstrated at that time.
Thor had a small tent set up for him. He gave instruction that no one was to enter it without his permission. The one exception was his squire 'Dernhelm'. This conveniently allowed Eowyn and Merry a means to remain hidden from prying eyes.
"What is our path tomorrow?" Thor asked the Rohirrim around him with the exception of Eomer. Eomer had gone to get a message from a waiting herald just outside the King's tent
Pointing at a map on a table, Theoden answered, "All things going well, we'll pass north along the Druadan Forest before reaching its eastern edge by late afternoon. After a few hour rest, we'll ride during the night to reach Minas Tirith by dawn."
"I'm afraid that mightn't now be so simple, milord," Eomer intervened as he returned clutching a leather compendium that the herald had given him.
"What do you mean, Eomer?" Theoden asked.
"The prisoner in the Orthanc has found something that could be of interest to us," Eomer explained as he passed the compendium to Theoden.
Everyone knew Eomer was referring to Grima Wormtongue. Theoden flipped over the compendium that contained two documents. One was a note Saruman had made in intricate Sindarin. The other document was Grima's translation in the Common Tongue. One reason that Grima had borne disdain from his countrymen over the years was that he had a very un-Rohirric interest in Elven languages.
"It would appear, my lords, the enemy has prepared a trap for us along the Great West Road." Theoden regretfully read aloud. "According to these documents, Sauron plans to place a significant force west of the beacon-hill of Amon Din."
Thor noted on the map this 'Amon Din' was just east of the Druadan.
"It couldn't have been deployed when my Fellowship-brothers traveled to Minas Tirith," Thor deduced aloud. "We wouldn't have received the signal from Gondor otherwise."
Eomer nodded his agreement to this before saying, "Such a force prevent us from having a clear path into Gondor. Unfortunately, the documents give no indication of composition or numbers."
"Assuming such a force exists!" a suspicious Gamling countered. Grima may have received a conditional pardon, but Gamling still didn't trust the man. "This could all be misinformation for us to waste time or divert us in another direction."
"We can't discount that possibility, my friend," Eomer conceded to Gamling. "At the same time, we can't ignore the information simply because of the source."
If my nephew speaks in your defence, Grima, you may be able to return to Mark sooner than you think! Theoden thought, surprised at Eomer's remark.
"For the sake of argument, let's assume this force exists," Thor began planning a response. "If we wish to avoid it, what are our options?"
Elfhelm, who had long ridden these parts, responded by drawing the meeting's attention back to the map.
"There's a hidden road that runs through the Druadan," Elfhelm revealed. "It would allow us to bypass this force and to get to Minas Tirith much quicker. Unfortunately, road's has been lost to us for many years. Even if we knew the route, we'd still run the risk of being attacked by the wild men who inhabit the forest." Elfhelm segued to the Rohirrim's other option. "Going north would add a day's travel to our journey. Its certain enemy scouts will be in the area. Mordor would then send a force to intercept us before we even got to Minas Tirith."
The meeting paused to consider this for a few moments before Theoden broke the silence.
"Only one thing is certain, my lords – war doesn't tolerate ambiguity," Theoden then turned his attention to his nephew. "Eomer, two hours from now, I want you to take some of your personal eored to scout the road ahead. We must know the truth least disaster befall us."
"By your leave, Theoden-king?" Thor prefaced. "If the First Marshal agrees, I'd like to accompany his scouting party."
After receiving a nod from his uncle, Eomer warmly answered, "You'd be most welcome to join us, Thor." He then added with heavy understatement, "After the events of recent weeks, I suspect those of my eored will be more willing to take you at your word than when we first met."
The meeting shared a laugh at this before Theoden dismissed them with, "Please get what rest you can, my lords."
As the others took their leave, Theoden asked Thor to stay for a quick private discussion.
"I noticed your squire bearing Master Meriadoc despite my order that he stay behind?" Theoden inquired with a strong overtone of disapproval.
Thor had prepared a response in the event Theoden would raise this question. Thor darkly mused to himself that Loki's talent for lying would be useful to have right now.
"Unfortunately, Theoden-king, I didn't pass on your instruction to young Dernhelm as I was distracted by other matters," Thor fudged the truth. "By the time I recalled it, it was too late to send Dernhelm back with Master Merry. I make no excuses for this and take full responsibility. I will accept any sanction you wish to pose on me because of this."
Theoden gave Thor's arm a reassuring grip.
"I privately admit it was harsh of me to prevent Merry from joining us," Theoden magnanimously conceded. "I only did so because I could not bear to see any harm befall him. Given what he's been through as one of the Fellowship, I've no place doubting his courage or his desire to be with his friends." Theoden then ordered with a smile, "My sanction then, Prince Thor, is that you look after his person – if only as a personal favour to myself!"
"Banner made a similar request before his departure from Dunharrow." Thor revealed before observing with mild sarcasm, "I must be a greater fool than ones Eomer referred to when we dined at Helm's Deep. Should I fail to protect Merry, I will be subject to your wrath in addition to the Other Guy's!"
A few minutes later, Thor re-entered his tent. Both Eowyn and Merry were sleeping on their respective bedrolls. Thor smiled that Eowyn felt secure enough that she could sleep without having to hide her face. Merry began to stir.
"Thor?" he mumbled.
Thor indicated to Merry they should keep their voices down so as not to disturb Eowyn.
"I must take my leave from the pair of you for the next few hours," Thor explained. "There could be a large force of Mordor's blocking the road ahead. I will be joining Eomer and a small scouting party to assess the situation. I can't take the pair of you with me. In such a small group, Eomer would soon recognise who 'Dernhelm' really is."
"I understand, Thor," Merry replied. "We'll try and remain inconspicuous as possible while your away."
"I do have some good tidings though, Merry," Thor cheered him. "Theoden now accepts you as being part of this force." Thor returned Merry's smile before continuing. "Both Bruce and Theoden asked me to keep an eye on you. Now I ask you keep an eye on Eowyn during my absence. One thing I've learned is Hobbits are very good at going unnoticed when they put their minds to it."
"I'll do what I can, Thor." Merry agreed before mischievously observing, "I suppose it's a good thing I'm the one that stayed in Edoras and not Pippin."
Thor only gave a big grin in response least Eowyn suddenly waken due to the hearty laugh he wanted to release.
Joining Eomer and Thor in the scouting party was Captain Eothain and five other riders from Eomer's eored. Eothain and these riders were relieved when Thor graciously told them he'd put their previous dispute well behind him. The scouting party left on its important mission during the late watches. The Avenger could easily have outrun the scouting party on his own two legs. But as he was travelling into (for him) unfamiliar territory, Thor thought it best not to be too complacent in the face of the enemy. Thor had another reason to ride with Eomer and his men.
Thor accompanying the scouting party was the result of him weighing up some uneasy probabilities. The main body of the Rohirrim no longer had an Avenger present in their ranks. This meant it was much more vulnerable to potential Nazgul attack or other sorcery Sauron might chose to unleash. But Thor rationalised that these same dangers could also befall the scouting party. Given its numbers, the scouting party would be much more vulnerable to these sorts of attacks. Even if this vulnerability might only be a fraction worse than that of the main body of Rohirrim.
The scouting party verified the truth of Grima's report just after dawn. The party positioned itself on a wooden ridge in the Druadan that was some two hundred yards south-west of the force Mordor had deployed to block the Rohirrim's advance. The force was some three miles west of Amon Din along the Great West Road. It was located between a denuded section of the Druadan Forest to its south and a series of steep hills to its north – a good location to create a bottleneck along the road.
On each side of the road, at right angles, were three elongated, sequential trenches each being three yards wide. The trenches were approximately thirty yards apart from each other. The Mordor force had used the pine trees it had cut down to fashion sharp wooden stakes designed to impale man and horse alike. These stakes had been hammered in front of each trench. The force had also used the timber it had harvested to built a simple but sizeable wooden stockade. The road ran between the trenches before it passed through the stockade's west gate and exited its east gate. The road was only narrow enough for two horses to traverse abreast along it.
Manning the trenches were hordes of Mordor Orcs and Easterlings. Easterlings were Men from a confederation of many tribes occupying the eastern region of Middle-earth known as 'Rhun'. Outwardly, Easterlings were similar in appearance to ordinary Men, apart from their sallow skin, but inwardly they were cruel and loyal servants of Sauron. They paid their tribute to Sauron by their warriors serving as part of his army. Having had numerous conflicts with Gondor over the centuries, the Easterlings eagerly rallied to the Dark Lord's banner for the War of the Ring. Sauron had promised the Easterlings the northern lands of Gondor once their hated foe was defeated.
The Easterlings were skilled craftsmen even though they weren't Gondor's technological equals. The armour they wore was made of a series of locking lames of bronze that were combined to produce a distinctive pattern of jagged scales. Their bronze helmets were worn over a red silk headscarf with three angular crests at its top. The Easterlings were principally armed with razor-spiked polearms and three-foot long steel scimitars. The vast majority of Easterlings also carried a rectangular shield with concave top and bottom edges. The scouting party was currently observing many such armoured and equipped Easterlings posted in the trenches.
"Eothain," Eomer asked his eored's Captain. "You've always been good at assessing enemy numbers."
Eothain observed the enemy camp a couple of moments. "I'd think a force of no less than five thousand, milord. Their trenches will prevent us from sweeping them aside with a charge. If we dismount and fight on foot, we could lose a third of our number by the time we reach the stockade's walls."
"Under normal circumstances I'd agree," Eomer replied before turning his attention to the only member of the scouting party not wearing a helmet. "What are your thoughts, Thor?"
Thor didn't immediately reply as he considered the situation. At full power, he could summon enough lightning to instantly vaporise the enemy and their fortifications. But this currently wasn't an option. The lightning he could currently summon would destroy most of the enemy. However, it wouldn't be enough to prevent some from slinking off and reporting the attack. Another solution began forming in the Asgardian's mind.
"I need to be sure of something before I can answer," Thor said before dismounting from Graegwind.
"What are you doing?" a confused Eomer questioned him.
"I won't be gone but for a few minutes," Thor calmly advised. "Please stay here." Thor then whispered into Graegwind's ear, "Pass this message to your equine-brothers, least their riders have less than sense than they do!"
Graegwind simply gave a quiet snort in reply as Thor petted his left cheek. The Avenger then disappeared into the forest jogging to the north-east. Silence momentarily reigned as the company's members privately speculated what Thor was up to. A still baffled Eothain broke the silence.
"Is Prince Thor taking a closer look at the enemy, milord?" he asked Eomer.
Eomer didn't have time to respond. He and his subordinates watched open-mouthed as Thor casually walked towards enemy lines in plain sight. The Rohirrim weren't the only ones surprised by the God of Thunder's actions.
The leader of the Mordor force was a tall, heavy-set black skinned orc named 'Morgash'. Morgash wore a patch over his left eye upon his bulldog face. Following Morgash was the commander of the Easterling detachment. Both climbed a rickety ladder into one of the crude lookout towers that dotted the stockade's walls.
"What is it?" Morgash growled at the sentry who had summoned him.
"Walkin' towards us on the road!" the sentry pointed out, slightly flinching at Morgash's clear annoyance.
Thor was not much more than two hundred yards away from the first line of trenches as he kept walking at the same pace.
"He could be mad or one of those Rohirrim we're supposed to lookout for," Morgash judged of the intruder. "Whoever 'e is, I wanna know." He turned attention to the Easterling Commander before barking at him, "Get yer horsemen off their lazy backsides! Bring 'im back 'ere as our prisoner."
The Easterling Commander's eyes narrowed at this. He didn't appreciate Morgash speaking to him like another foul and stupid orc. This matter could wait though. The Easterling Commander gave out a quick order in the Rhunnic tongue to one of his subordinates at ground level.
The Easterlings had in their detachment a sizeable company of cavalry known as 'Variags'. The Variags were from the region of Khand that lied to the east of Mordor. Khand had been supplying horses for Mordor to use throughout the centuries and the Variags were among the best of any mounted warriors in Sauron's service. In appearance, they and their steeds wore bronze armour similar in fashion to that of the Clibanarii that served in the ranks of Sassanid Persia.
Thor was about a hundred yards from the first series of trenches when he noticed six Variags rushing towards him. One Variag was carrying a large net while the other five were armed with lances and scimitars. Without breaking stride, Thor threw Mjolnir at the oncoming cavalry. Mjolnir cleanly knocked the Variags off from their mounts in seconds before returning to Thor's hand. The Variags' horses reared in surprise at what had just happened.
"He's one of 'em Avengers!" a stunned Morgash realised.
Officer ranks in Sauron's forces had been briefed on the Avengers and their capabilities. Not that the Dark Lord passed on everything he'd learnt about them. But the information he had circulated was troubling enough. General ranks had by and large been kept in the dark. Such as the orc sentry next to Morgash who hadn't even moved after witnessing Thor's demonstration of power.
"Don't just stare, maggots!" Morgash ordered him for all to hear. "Kill 'im!"
A series of horns were sounded around the encampment. This signalled the order to fell Thor in a hail of arrows. While this commotion had been taking place, Thor raised Mjolnir aloft and began rotating his arm in small circles. The sky over the trenches and encampment quickly darkened. For the first time in Middle-earth's history, a force of Mordor was afraid of a black-clouded sky above it. Thor was about fifty yards from the enemy when the order to release arrows was given. It was then Thor halted and rapidly struck the ground with Mjolnir.
Three tornadoes each as strong as the one Thor summoned against the Asgardian Destroyer instantly descended from the sky. The tornadoes effortlessly deflected the arrows that were shot at Thor before proceeding to tear into the hapless defenders and their fortifications. Thor directed two tornadoes to destroy the enemy trenches and the remaining one straight up the road towards the stockade.
Powerful winds sucked up defenders and their beasts into the sky. The stakes in front of the trenches may have been able to impale a cavalry charge, but not an attack by a class five tornado. Stakes were torn up from the ground. The ground itself often buried trench occupants or suffocated them with dirt getting in their lungs. Morgash and the Easterling Commander tried to dive off the top of the sentry tower as a tornado directly approached them. But they were sucked into it before the tornado smashed the tower into matchsticks.
Thor called off this attack after a few minutes. As the sky rapidly cleared, he assessed the damage his attack had done. All the fortifications had been destroyed or knocked down. Large amounts of soil had filled the trenches that the forces of Mordor had dug over the last two days. Countless corpses of Orcs and Easterlings littered the site indicating no survivors from this attack. Thor's only regret was that his attack had killed the horses Easterlings used for mounts. It was for this reason that Thor didn't want Graegwind to be present when this attack took place. His conscience hoped that his steed would understand why he had to kill so many of Graegwind's kind. After this short period of reflection, Thor jogged back to where he left the Rohirrim scouting party.
Eomer and the rest of the scouting party witnessed Thor's attack and were struggling to believe what they saw. Not just the destructive power that Thor had unleashed. But also how the Avenger was able to concentrate the tornadoes effects within a confined area. The only effects they'd felt from the tornadoes were surrounding pines swaying as if being touched by a gentle breeze. Thor seemed to be unaware of the awed and disbelieving looks he was receiving by the time he got back to them. After remounting, the Asgardian spoke in an almost casual tone.
"It's just as I thought," Thor responded to Eomer's original question. "The road to Minas Tirith is clear."
A shorter chapter compared to the previous few. But I hope Thor's display of power nonetheless made it interesting. I'm expecting a much longer chapter when we next read about the Thor and the Rohirrim. The content of this chapter formed in my mind soon after I began playing with the idea of Grima surviving.
I've always thought the Fall of Gondolin would be a cinematic spectacle equal to any of the battles within the Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy.
The next chapter will focus on the Fellowship members going to secure the aid of the Army of the Dead.